Green's Safe Climate Bill welcomed

Friends of the Earth Australia has welcomed the release today by the Australian Greens of their Safe Climate Bill.

Media release 12 October 2009
Friends of the Earth Australia

Green's Safe Climate Bill welcomed

National environmental organisation Friends of the Earth Australia has welcomed the release today by the Australian Greens of their Safe Climate Bill.

“Climate science tells us that we must hold overall global warming well under 2o C” said spokesperson Cam Walker. “The federal government acknowledges the need for action on climate change but the best it has been able to offer is the flawed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and tragically low unconditional emissions reduction targets of 5%. The Coalition can't even agree there is a problem.”

“Faced with this impass, the Australian community needs leadership on climate change. The Greens are the first party to offer this at the scale required. Unlike the CPRS, the Greens vision is underscored by the need to balance the books away from the big polluters and back towards average people. Accordingly, it has a focus on the massive jobs yield that would come with strong energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. It proposes a pathway that would allow us to rebuild our cities to make them sustainable, climate change ready and far more liveable”.

“Significantly, this Bill, if enacted, would show great leadership by Australia in the global realm. As UN climate talks ground to a halt in Bangkok last week, many observers noted that the gap between the rich and the poor has never been greater in the climate change negotiations. At the base of this gap is the fact that the rich world has caused most of the climate change problem, yet the wealthy nations are not prepared to put forward tangible action – that is, deep emissions reductions targets – that are commensurate with what will be required if we are to leave 'space' for emerging economies to be able to thrive in a carbon restrained future. The Greens proposals would provide the basis for Australia to show leadership in the global realm when it matters – before the Copenhagen talks planned for December”.

“Friends of the Earth is not convinced that international trade in carbon will be beneficial for local communities or environments and strongly prefer for large emitter nations like Australia to make their greenhouse reductions at home rather than through offsetting in other countries. However we support most of the other measures outlined in the Safe Climate Bill.”